"Weird Al" Yankovic
This is the page for the person. To see the album page, go here. "Weird Al" Yankovic, the undisputed king of pop culture parody, has sold more comedy recordings than any other artist in history. In a career spanning nearly three decades, he has amassed 30 Gold and Platinum albums, 7 Gold and Platinum-certified home videos and 3 Grammy Awards (with 11 nominations). In The Beginning The singer-songwriter's first real brush with fame came in 1979 when he recorded " " (a spoof of 's " ") in the bathroom across the hall from his college campus radio station where he had a weekly DJ shift. A devoteé of musical satirists , , , and , Yankovic's budding career took off when the song became a sensation on the nationally syndicated "Dr. Demento Show." Just a few years later, Al landed his first recording contract and has since created an extraordinary legacy of music and ground-breaking videos, including hits like " ," " " and " ." Videos An accomplished director, Al has helmed many of his own award-winning music videos as well as clips for , , , , and . His video for " ," nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in 1992, was chosen by as one of the "Top 100 Music Videos Of All Time." Al also created the critically acclaimed title sequence for the feature film " ." Television Making a successful transformation from pop music satirist to multimedia star, Al created his own television specials for ("AL-TV"), and the , among others. His feature film "UHF" (1989) became an instant Top Ten best-selling DVD upon its release in 2002, and his CBS network series "The Weird Al Show" reached cult-classic status and was released on DVD earlier this year. Al has been featured on numerous TV shows and specials, and his profile on 's " " remains one of the most popular installments in the history of the series. Straight Outta Lynwood Yankovic's 12th studio album (Way Moby/Volcano) is a DualDisc release brimming with special features. The DVD side contains six brand new Weird Al music videos produced by some of the world's top animators, including Academy Award-nominated filmmaker , " " creator , acclaimed media artist , the creative team behind 's show " " and popular Internet animators and . The package also features a 9-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, as well as PCM Stereo, 5.1 Surround Sound and karaoke/instrumental versions of the entire album. The centerpiece of Straight Outta Lynwood is " ," a parody of 's No. 1 smash hit " ." Al directed the highly-acclaimed video clip, which features hilarious cameos by , , and 's and . The "White & Nerdy" video went straight into heavy rotation on VH-1 (debuting at #5 in their Top 20 Countdown) and quickly racked up a few million hits on YouTube. Straight Outta Lynwood also features parodies of (" "), (" "), (" ") and (the 11-minute epic " "), as well as the now-traditional polka medley (" "), which this time includes accordion-fueled renditions of hits by such artists as , , , , , , and . " ," the first song and video released from the album, is a tongue-in-cheek look at the hot-button issue of mp3 piracy, set to original music inspired by the celebrity-driven charity benefit songs from the ‘80s. The song was ironically offered as a free download on Al's web site and MySpace page , and quickly became a viral worldwide hit. Other original compositions on the album include an homage to both and internal organs (" "), an ode to computer-based paranoia (" "), a headbanger about frivolous lawsuits (" "), an anthem for the relationship-impaired (" ") and a cheery ditty about the most festive time of the year (" "). Straight Outta Lynwood debuted at #10 on the Billboard charts, making it Al's highest charting album to date. External Links * Official Website * Myspace Page * IMDb page * Wikipedia Page Weird Al Yankovic